


Love at the Ice Cream Parlor

by penstrikesmidnight



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Getting Together, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, Slight Manga Spoilers if You Squint, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23914756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penstrikesmidnight/pseuds/penstrikesmidnight
Summary: Oikawa's go-to is two scoops of pistachio in a waffle cone. Sometimes, he'll mix it up with a milkshake. He always comes in around ten at night, a half hour before the store is supposed to close, and he is usually the only customer. He sits at the table closest to the register. He talks. A lot. About literally nothing.The one where Kenma works at an ice cream parlor and Oikawa is Smitten.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 6
Kudos: 168
Collections: celi adores these fanfics





	Love at the Ice Cream Parlor

**Author's Note:**

> The bulk of my rarepair week contributions have slowly become _how many ways can I shuffle around iwaoikuroken with ship numbers below 100?_ and here's the first installment! 
> 
> Prompts for the day: **ice cream** /Italian city/ **celebrity au** (kinda)
> 
> Enjoy!

At the end of almost every shift, Kenma has to tell himself that he is almost done, almost out, that soon, soon, he will never have to work at an ice cream parlor serving dumb college students again.

The best time of his shift is the half hour before close, when almost everyone has disappeared and Kenma has a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. He likes to be home and in bed before midnight, if he can help it.

That night, Kenma is cleaning up after a big party of people. Apparently, their university had won a baseball game, not that Kenma paid much attention to sports other than to know if they would be busy or not. He hopes they aren't going to get a rush at the tail end of the shift. He wasn't sure why the manager never scheduled another worker on nights they knew they would be busy. It made Kenma's life so much more exhausting.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the mess."

Kenma jerks his head up to see a tall boy with perfectly coiffed brown hair wearing a navy bomber and dark jeans. He smiles at Kenma, then bends down to help stack the empty bowls and cups. Kenma studies him suspiciously for a few seconds, but the stranger seems genuine enough, so Kenma grabs a rag and cleans as the stranger picks up the trash.

"Thanks," Kenma says once they've cleaned everything and are hovering awkwardly by the trashcan. 

The boy laughs, waving a hand through the air. His nose wrinkles when he smiles in a way Kenma does not find endearing. "Please, we made the mess, it's the least I could do to help you clean it. I'm Oikawa, by the way. Oikawa Tooru."

"Kenma," Kenma says simply. When Oikawa gives him a questioning look, Kenma says, a little defensively, "I don't care if you use my first name. It's my name, isn't it?"

To Oikawa's credit, he is not put off by Kenma's bluntness. "I'll call you whatever you want. Anyway, you're probably busy, so I'll let you get back to work. See you around!"

With that, Oikawa flutters out the door, leaving Kenma feeling a little unnerved. At least he'd helped him clean the tables and that, in Kenma's opinion, made the weird social interaction bearable.

***

Oikawa comes in a lot. By the third week, Kenma is trying to remember if Oikawa had been coming in before then, or if it's only since their little chat that he comes in at least twice a week. 

Oikawa's go-to is two scoops of pistachio in a waffle cone. Sometimes, he'll mix it up with a milkshake, although those are all over the board. He always comes in around ten at night, a half hour before the store is supposed to close, and he is usually the only customer. He sits at the table closest to the register. He talks. A lot. About literally nothing.

Kenma learns that he is a physics major, and he knows Oikawa is not sure if he wants to go into engineering in grad school or med school. He's one year ahead of Kenma. He knows that Oikawa likes to watch stupid reality TV and gets wildly invested in everyone's lives, since Kenma has to hear updates every day he sees Oikawa. He also comes to realize that Oikawa knows Kuroo tangentially because they both play pick up volleyball sometimes, although Kenma never tells either one that they share a social circle. Oikawa also talks about his want of a pet, how he's thinking of quitting his job at the call center he works at (which is across the street, and maybe why he's here _all the time_ ), and literally anything else that comes across his mind.

At this point, Kenma knows more about Oikawa's life than he does about Kuroo's.

One day, Kenma finally breaks down to Kuroo. "Why? Why does he have to unload everything onto me? You can't tell me he isn't popular, he's too good-looking for that. He exudes, like, smart-jock vibes."

Kuroo looks up from his textbook. Kenma scowls, because that means Kuroo was not paying attention to him. "Are you talking about your Helpful Cleaner Boy? Finally?!"

"Not anymore, you clearly have better things to worry about," Kenma huffs.

Kuroo stands and follows Kenma to their living room. "No, no, no, I'm all ears, Kenma. Speak to me. Tell me about your love life."

Kenma snorts. He plops down on the couch and flips on the TV, digging up a controller. "It's not a love life. It's an annoyingly pretty customer who doesn't know when to shut up."

"But you haven't told him to leave. Or be quiet."

Kenma refuses to look at Kuroo. He can imagine the smirk Kuroo has on his face well enough because they both know Kenma would have told Oikawa to get out of his life if Kenma didn't want him around. Kuroo takes the silence as his cue to continue talking. "Face it, Kenma. He _likes_ you. Why else would he come in at least twice a week and hang out _until you close_ chatting about nothing?"

"Maybe he's lonely or thinks I'm a good charity case to take under his wing," Kenma shrugs. "Clearly, he hasn't found my socials. Are you playing or not?"

"Um, not. I don't want to be the object of your vexation."

Kenma nods, glad he and Kuroo are on the same page. When Kenma has gotten into his groove, Kuroo starts prodding again, like Kenma knew he would. "Do you like him?"

"No," Kenma answers, too forcefully and too quickly. Before Kuroo can ask any more embarrassing questions, Kenma says, "I mean, he's cute, okay? And his voice is nice. But he's so...I don't know. So _much_. It's exhausting just thinking about everything he would want to do."

"Do you even know his name?"

Kenma wrinkles his nose, watching as his character gets absolutely demolished on screen. He had known, at some point, he would have to tell Kuroo who it was, he had just been hoping it wouldn't be for awhile longer. "Oikawa Tooru."

Kuroo gives a long, low whistle. "You and Oikawa, huh?"

"I told you, he's just bored or something."

"Nah, he's clearly infatuated. You don't know Oikawa."

Kenma shoots Kuroo a dirty look. "You don't either. You sometimes play volleyball with him and that's all."

"Still, I know him better than you. He gets...obsessive. If he's spending his evenings chatting you up in an empty ice cream parlor, he definitely likes you. I wonder how much extra exercise he has to put into his routine to level out all that ice cream intake. Man, the more I think about this, the more I'm certain he's totally into you."

Kenma throws his controller on the couch, watching as, once again, his poor avatar gets eaten by a dragon. "I'm going to bed. When I wake up tomorrow morning, we are never speaking about this again."

"Mmm-hmm," Kuroo says, his voice too happy.

"Kuro," Kenma says sharply.

"I know, I know." Kuroo holds his hands up as he slumps back into the couch. "We won't speak of it again. At least, until you and Oikawa are official, then I can gloat all I want."

"Goodnight!" Kenma calls as he darts into his room. He is not going to date anyone like Oikawa Tooru. Just thinking of all of the effort he would have to expend makes him want to sleep for seven years.

***

On Thursday night, Oikawa looks haggard. It's the first time Kenma has seen his hair in disarray, and he's wearing glasses. Kenma didn't know he wore glasses.

He also didn't know that Oikawa would look about five times more appealing in them.

"Do you want your usual?" Kenma asks. Oikawa nods, sinking into his chair. Oikawa is the only one there, as usual. The more Kenma thinks about it, the more he realizes that it's probably eerie how much it's just him and Oikawa in the store together.

Stupid Kuroo. He couldn't be right about this.

As if Kenma's thoughts had magically summoned him, Oikawa says, "Kuroo told me you were a setter in high school! I didn't know you knew him."

Kenma tries to school his face into his professional mask. It takes a lot of effort, and by the way Oikawa's lips quirk, he must not succeed. "Yes. Kuro and I are roommates."

Kenma hands Oikawa's ice cream over. He had been generous with the scoops, and Oikawa must notice because he smiles gratefully. "What's wrong with you tonight, anyway?"

"Ah, just a little stressed, nothing major!" Kenma frowns. Oikawa seems like he's performing in a play, imbuing his character with happiness, but not actually feeling any himself.

Kenma watches him for a second, but Oikawa looks down at his ice cream and doesn't speak, so Kenma goes back to what he was doing before.

After about five minutes of silence, Kenma can't stand it anymore. "Okay. What's wrong? Wasn't your dating show on last night or something?"

"Oh, yeah, but I haven't watched it yet." Oikawa sighs. "I have three major tests coming up, and I don't think I'm prepared for them. And I have a paper due next week, and I took an impromptu overtime shift..."

Oikawa looks at Kenma miserably. Kenma glances around the room as if someone is going to walk in five minutes to close, then sits at the table with him. "That sounds terrible."

"I know!" Oikawa wails, then proceeds to lay out everything that's wrong. Kenma sits and (mostly) listens. As expected, Oikawa is a go-getter, everything that Kenma is not.

But...

Kenma rests a hand on Oikawa's outstretched arm. Oikawa's rant stutters to a stop. "Just get through one day at a time, all right? Make a list, in order of what you need to get done. Don't skip around. Check everything off as you finish them. You seem like someone who will get through this just fine."

Oikawa gives Kenma a small smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Now, I was supposed to close, like three minutes ago, so..."

"Sorry!" Oikawa stands up taking the last bite of his ice cream. Kenma follows suit. "I feel like I talk a lot when I'm here, so I apologize if I'm getting a little overwhelming."

Oikawa does this cute thing where he threads his hand through the hair on the back of his head and smiles that broad, nose-wrinkling smile. 

Kenma definitely does not almost lose all his composure when he sees it. "I...Uh...It's fine," he mutters.

"Great! See you later then? Maybe...Maybe after this hell week is over, you'll come celebrate with me? Somewhere lowkey, just dinner?" Kenma has never seen nervousness on Oikawa, but he is definitely seeing it now.

"Sure," Kenma hears himself saying before he even decides.

Oikawa's smile turns a hundred times more brilliant. Kenma hadn't noticed how...fake, it had been before until this real one was turned on him. "Awesome! I can give you my number? I mean, if you want. Or we can meet here..."

"Give me your phone." Kenma puts his hand out. Oikawa's cheeks are dusted a light pink as he hands it over. Kenma types in his phone number and adds a cat to the end of his name. "There. Text me the time, okay?"

"Yeah," Oikawa breathes, holding his phone as if it is a precious object. "Yeah, sounds good."

The bell on the door jingles as Oikawa steps out. Kenma steps up to lock it. As he looks back up, he sees Oikawa turn back and wave. He gives a tiny wave back, his lips quirking up at the edges. 

The small smile stays on for the rest of the night.

***

Their dinner is just as lowkey as Oikawa promised. They sit in a secluded booth, Oikawa nervously picking at his napkin, his straw wrapper, the sugar packets, until Kenma tells him to stop. "I just don't want to mess this up, is all."

Kenma had never really considered Oikawa as the earnest type, but here he was, trying to make it so Kenma felt as comfortable as possible. "Did you ask Kuro about where to take me?" he asks suspiciously.

Oikawa shakes his head. "You're always real quiet, and you get a little tense when you have to manage a large crowd of people on your own. I just figured you would probably want to do something a little calmer than, like, go to a bar or something."

Kenma wrinkles his nose. He definitely doesn't frequent bars, although he goes with Kuroo every once in awhile. But, more to the point, he doesn't know how he feels about Oikawa's observations. It makes him feel uncomfortably exposed, as if his own tricks have been used against him.

He doesn't notice he has hunched down into his seat until Oikawa sits up straight and changes the subject.

It is...the most comfortable first date Kenma has ever been on. It almost feels as if they are in the ice cream parlor all over again, except this time, Oikawa asks questions, and Kenma feels comfortable answering. There is an actual dialogue between them, and it's nice.

They go on three more dates before Oikawa asks, just as nervously as before, if they were officially dating, and Kenma couldn't say no.

Kenma learns that Oikawa is competitive to a fault, and a perfectionist on top of that. When he and Kuroo are in the same room for longer than an hour, they're almost constantly bickering. Kenma likes to think that he and Oikawa balance each other out, that when Oikawa gets riled up, Kenma is there to calm him down, help him think logically. Sometimes, when that's too much effort, Kenma will press himself close to Oikawa, which always makes Oikawa falter, as if he's taken by surprise that Kenma likes the physical affection as much as the emotional connection. And Oikawa always turns his attention to Kenma, whenever he demands it.

Oikawa fits himself into Kenma's life more than Kenma changes his own lifestyle. By the third month of their relationship, Oikawa has integrated himself as if he has always been there. Kenma is suspicious that Kuroo has informed Oikawa of Kenma's laziness, and that's why he had taken the extra effort to shadow Kenma, but Kenma doesn't press the issue. If he can lean against Oikawa's sinewy body and feel Oikawa's lips drop a kiss to his cheek or his forehead or wherever is convenient, Kenma is not going to argue.

And that's how Oikawa finds out about Kenma's streaming for the first time. It wasn't that he was keeping it a secret, more that it just never came up. Kenma had told Oikawa about the spare key (kept under the fire extinguisher outside their door because Kuroo almost always forgot his keys when drunk somewhere), and so Oikawa walks in one night while Kenma is finishing up one of his streams.

He holds out a hand for Oikawa to stay put as he signs off, then turns off his computer and the rest of the equipment. "Sorry, I didn't mean to run late."

"I...Are you famous online?" Oikawa asks, his face displaying shock, something very rare and a look Kenma relishes in producing.

Kenma shrugs. Oikawa's eyes narrow. He plops down next to Kenma, pulling out his phone. "Youtube? Twitch? Instagram?"

Kenma shrugs. "All of them, I guess. Here."

Kenma enters in his username. Oikawa's eyes widen comically, and Kenma has to hide his smile in his hand. "How come no one told me my boyfriend was famous?! You have more _Instagram_ followers than me, too?! You hardly ever post anything!"

"My fans are loyal, I guess," he says.

Oikawa's pout is firm on his face. Kenma smiles, smug, then pulls Oikawa's head down to kiss the pout away. Oikawa's mouth opens without too much fight.

"Okay, but what if we made our relationship social media official?" Oikawa asks after a few minutes of kissing. "That will boost my numbers because I'll be in charge of Instagram! And your fans will get more content. Win-win situation, right?"

Kenma wrinkles his nose. Oikawa's hopeful expression falls. "It's not that I don't want to," Kenma reassures him quickly. Truthfully, Kenma doesn't care what anyone online thinks about his lifestyle. If they have a problem with the way he lives, good riddance. He curls himself up against Oikawa's side, and Oikawa immediately wraps his arms around Kenma. 

"Can I think about it?" Kenma asks. "I've just...My life has always been private, and it's nice to have you away from the public, I guess."

"Mmm," Oikawa says, his eyes softening again. He bridges the space between them. "Whatever you want."

***

"When did you even take this picture!" Oikawa asks, aghast, the moment Kenma answers the door for him, brandishing his phone at Kenma. "My hair is a mess, and I'm in my glasses..."

"Your fans seem to love your glasses," Kenma says, a small curl of jealousy in his throat as he looks at the post. He swallows it down, pulling Oikawa into the apartment. It's a picture of the two of them, Kenma looking up at Oikawa with a tiny smile, Oikawa's head thrown back in laughter, hair mussed by the wind, arms around Kenma's chest. Kenma hadn't taken it--Kuroo had, thinking to blackmail them with it, and then sent it to Kenma instead, disgusted with how cute it had turned out.

At three in the morning, Kenma had woken up to the realization that, yes, he wanted everyone to know that Oikawa and he were in a relationship. And he knew how much Oikawa thrived on publicity. Keeping this in the dark was probably hard for him, but he had respected Kenma's wishes down to the letter. So without thinking much about it, Kenma had uploaded the picture, his favorite of them, with nothing but a tag and three hearts before passing back out until Oikawa's freak out at the doorbell.

Needless to say, the internet had blown up.

"I'm sure you got more followers, which is what you wanted, right?" Kenma says, yawning. "Can we go get breakfast? I'm hungry."

"Sure," Oikawa says. "And yes, I did. We make a cute couple, so I guess it's okay. Just warn a guy next time, alright?"

Kenma smiled. "But I like to keep you on your toes. Don't want to get too boring for you."

"You aren't boring," Oikawa says, surprised. "Do you think that?"

Kenma shrugs. He doesn't, really, but sometimes he wonders what he had that kept Oikawa around.

"Listen. You're smart, and thoughtful, and snarky, and I think I've fallen head over heels in love with you. You made me realize that, sometimes, it's nice to slow down, that in order to feel important I don't have to be the center of everyone's attention. Just yours." Oikawa has that soft smile on his face Kenma has only seen directed to him. Kenma's face is bright red, he can feel the heat wafting off of it. Oikawa laughs. "Aww, now _you're_ the one embarrassed. Just wait til I go live and gush about how amazing my boyfriend is! Everyone will eat up our ice cream parlor story, how I was so smitten I came around and kept you company..."

"Don't you dare!" Kenma warns. 

"Let's go get breakfast," Oikawa says, leaning down to kiss Kenma. Kenma lets him.

"By the way," Kenma says as they're walking down the stairs. "I love you too."

Oikawa reaches across the space between them and squeezes Kenma's hand, and everything feels right.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments/kudos always welcome!
> 
> My [tumblr](https://twirlergirl1206.tumblr.com/) if you're interested!


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